[September 8, 2024] It was 36 years ago when a small group of friends gathered in the living room of one of the town’s citizens to discuss how to create something positive. Since that time, each year, a one-day celebration occurs; they call it Schuylkill Haven Borough Day. In this small central Pennsylvania town, the annual event draws… Read More »
[September 7, 2024] Beauty is more valuable than anything humans can possess. And while that is true – I believe inherently true – disfigurement of the human form can give rise to other valuable traits: decency and grace. Dostoevsky wrote in his book The Idiot that “Beauty will save the world.” I will add that disfigurement can sustain… Read More »
[September 5, 2024] Arriving at the Texas Tech University campus in early May of 1970, this would be the first time I’d ever been away from home for more than a long week at Boy Scout Camp. College was about to become a humdinger of an adventure, beginning with my first day checking into Gordon Hall, one of… Read More »
[August 29, 2024] Among the many moves my family made during my teen years, one allowed me to join the Boy Scouts. Despite the brief time in scouting, it would remain a valuable part of my life. “Mom & dad, I hate scout camp. The scoutmaster told me to write this letter. I promise you I am OK… Read More »
[August 22, 2024] I’m from the poor Deep South, where I can still find my heart. I relate closely with those living in small towns and on farms, working blue-collar jobs, local volunteers, small church congregations, and truckers. When people ask where I’m from, I say, “I’m from Mer Rouge, Louisiana.” Despite not living there for six decades,… Read More »
[August 20, 2024] I’ll be upfront with you guys today. What follows is an advertisement – of sorts – for Fr. Jim Drucker’s radio program. I’m hawking his radio program; you don’t want to miss it. He’s a retired Catholic Priest, USAF Catholic Chaplain, Desert Storm Veteran, and a popular radio program host. Known around the area as… Read More »
[August 19, 2024] I was a phone call-in to the Father Jim Drucker radio show1 this past Saturday when he hosted Ralph Galati, a Vietnam War POW and Veteran advocate. It was a fascinating conversation as USAF Captain Galati gave us some insights into what it was like as a POW held by the North Vietnamese. But Ralph… Read More »
[August 18, 2024] I’ll be out all day, so I’m posting a less serious article about Emmy the Lab. I had a dog-loving friend send me this channel on YouTube, and it is not big or exciting or crazy, but just about a yellow Labrador Retriever doing her thing. Oh, and she looks exactly like my yellow lab… Read More »
[August 15, 2024] In the summer of 1967, when I was about to turn 15, the Academy Award-winning war movie “The Dirty Dozen” came out in theaters in my new Texas town, much to my happy surprise. I’d never seen anything like it; in the film, many of the worst convicts-turned-soldiers were given a top-secret mission to pull… Read More »
[August 9, 2024] I left home at 17 and I was gone before my High School graduation because I was enrolled in college and taking classes, a couple of weeks before my friends walked across the High School graduation stage at home in Abilene, Texas. I imagined in my mind my friends with their parents hugging each other, taking… Read More »